


The Walking Treasure

by Cassidius_Wilde



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Pirates, Tags Are Hard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-04
Updated: 2020-12-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:55:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27881101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cassidius_Wilde/pseuds/Cassidius_Wilde
Summary: The plan was simple. Betty was supposed to hide in a crate and get shipped to her cousin Cheryl. Plain. And. Simple. But the world had other plans.
Relationships: Betty Cooper & Jughead Jones, Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones
Comments: 8
Kudos: 28





	The Walking Treasure

Jughead intently stared at the burnt map displayed in his wooden walled office where numerous 'X's could be seen marked on specific locations. Fifteen. Fifteen lands he and his crew were able to rob. 

And after 3 years, people started calling them 'The Serpent Pirates'. Yes, pirates. But unlike the rest of their kind, they ran things differently. They wore no eye patches, they had no beards or gold teeth; no talking parrots; and definitely no proper identities and cries like 'Yargh!'. Living up to their name, they never harmed a single soul unless it was necessary, though they would always frighten witnesses with one look.

They slithered into homes when the mist was thick and the clouds shielded the towns from the light of the glowing grey moon. They crept in like flexible shadows and cleaned the inhabitants of any treasure they found valuable, lastly disappearing before the sun even began to place its gentle kiss on the land. 

This night's target was a small village called 'Riverdale'. Jughead and his crew heard about this mediocre piece of soil albeit there were certain families in the area who possessed one of the items they were after from the start: Black pearls. If the stories were true, they might just get their hands on real treasure.

"We're here!" Jughead heard first mate call above on deck.

Let the show begin, He said inwardly, putting a cover over his nose and mouth.

The moment they got out the boat, the atmosphere changed. It was colder on ground, and it wasn't because it was winter. Something was curling inside Jughead's stomach and he didn't know what.

At first, they did their heist routine of hiding in the shadowed areas until they were sure no one was around. But who in their right mind would possibly go walking through town in the middle of the night?

Jughead had his back pressed against a wall when he caught sight of a nice looking mansion in which he called dibs on. He signalled the others to separate and look for more wealthy bricks while Toni and Fangs stayed with him for back up. He slid in a thin knife through a random room's window sill and was surprised that it had already been opened.

Coming in as quietly as he can, he noticed how dark the room was, but he could make out that it didn't belong to anyone; rather a storage. There were average sized crates everywhere, just big enough for him to carry. 

Grabbing his knife again, he opened one box and was met face to face with hundreds of the legendary pearls, shining like priceless oil. 

Well, that was easy, Jughead commented before sealing it once more and passed it outside to the two other thieves. The crates were heavy but as soon as he carried the biggest one, the expectation of his knees to buckle didn't happen.

Must be the same amount or some shit, he thought.

3 hours of going back and forth with each crate, the pirates gathered around in their ship and drank to another successful heist after sailing off.

And although Jughead was a little mad at Sweet Pea, he was glad he thought of stealing some good food when he said he couldn't find any jewelleries.

"Oh, man, this turkey is so good!" Fangs moaned in delight. 

"And thank the gods for that," Jughead raised his golden cup, swirling its purple contents. "To the Serpents!" He voiced and the rest followed.

"To the Serpents!!" They cheered happily.

Music played in the background and the they enjoyed their sunless morning until Sweet Pea spoke.

"Wait, wait, wait," He sushed everyone, having heard the same scratching noise for five minutes straight. "Do you guys hear that?"

Everything went suddenly still. There was nothing but a creak of wood in the wind and the thuds of their flags dancing outside.

The Serpents stiffened when a different sound was heard. Most of them ran outside to check with their swords in hand but Jughead, Fangs, and Sweet Pea remained inside.

Thud

There it was again.

Thud

And again.

"Uh, guys?" Fangs said, drawing out a shaky finger to point at one of the crates Jughead brought. It was moving.

"The fuck did you take, boss?" Sweet Pea asked and backed away slowly, his half eaten chicken leg tightly wielded in between his fingers.

"Hell if I know," He replied, grabbing his gun. "Just get ready."

The three waited anxiously for something else to happen other than the box bouncing round the room. And then the lid flew open with a hard, stinging bang. Fangs screamed , alerting everyone outside to come rushing back.

"What?!" Toni's voice bellowed near. "What is it?!"

"It's. . .it's. . ." Sweet Pea couldn't find the words. And then his eyes widened after believing the worst. "It's a fucking succubus!! Kill it! Kill it before it kills us all!!" He yelled, waving his food at the intruder.

When Toni finally caught a glimpse of the promblem she grabbed him by the back of his collar before he had attacked the poor soul.

"Hold it!" She said.

"Ugh. . ." The 'succubus', as Sweet Pea called, groaned and rubbed her aching temple. A girl with blonde hair like the sun was sprawled out into the floor as the box was tipped to fall over. Her fair, pale skin was hidden in the red fluffy dress she had on which clearly indicated the fact that she was born of nobility. 

Everyone was too shocked to move. How did they manage to steal a person without even realizing they were stealing a actual, living, breathing person?

Toni rolled her eyes as soon as she searched for any kind of gentlemanly act amongst her hooligans and found nothing. It had been 10 seconds, yet they all stood there like it was the first time they had ever seen a girl.

"Hey, are you okay?" She stepped forward to aid the other female but was blocked by the arm of her captain.

When the stranger looked up she saw that she was surrounded by big, scary looking men who wore weird clothes, not the ones she typically sees on the commoners back at home.

"Uh, you guys don't look like my family's traders." She said, standing up with her guard on high alert.

"Traders? What the hell were doing in the crate, demon?" Sweet Pea was persistent.

She could only tilt her head. "What?"

"I said - "

"Knock it off, Sweets!" Toni interrupted by whacking his head to the side.

The blonde sighed in relief once she saw that there was another girl in room with her. 

"Oh, thank the gods you're not all heathens." She said, palming her chest.

"Hey! I happened to be the gentlemanliest man in here, mind you!" Sweet Pea argued before taking a nasty bite of the chicken in his hand and chewed it like a starved neanderthal.

The blonde grimaced, her face twisted to that of disgust.

"Don't mind him," Toni said in a calm manner to not further alarm her and stepped forward. "I'm Toni Topaz. What were doing the crate?"

"Damn it, Toni, why'd you just give your name out so easily like that?" Jughead broke out of his trance and freaked out.

"Shut up, Jug"

"Um, okay." The blonde appeared to be. . .not freaking out, for someone in her situation. "I'm Be - I mean, Elizabeth Cooper."

Jughead and Sweet Pea visibly flinched. Cooper?

"I. . .I wanted to get out of Riverdale so I just thought that I could maybe be shipped to my cousin and. . .yeah." She continued.

Elizabeth's eyes once again roamed the people around her until they landed on him. Amongst the sea of ravens, his hair was the darkest and he was the only guy looking at her like the sun just dawned on him. 

This guy's name is Jug?, she wondered if she had heard Toni wrong. He's kind of. . .cute.

Elizabeth might have been flirting with him in her mind but it was different for Jughead. The moment their eyes met, the sick feeling in his stomach that had been going on for hours ceased. He felt like he wouldn't even give half a shit if the ship sank at that moment. Her forest green orbs swirled a light that drove him insane, he resisted the urge to go ahead and carry her to his room and bury his head between her -

"Jughead!" Toni snapped her fingers between his eyes. A blush crept unto his cheeks as he realized he had been staring at the equally red aristocrat.

Jughead didn't know what the fuck was happening to him. He hadn't felt like this since. . . No, you idiot. She's gone. He shook his head.

"Boss, you okay?" Fangs asked in concern.

The raven balled his hands and put on the stern mask he loved to wear. "Everybody, out. I want to speak to her." He ordered and the rest did so without any complaint.

Elizabeth looked worried now. She was going to be alone with him.

"Hey, you're gonna fine." Toni's word were comforting. She trusted her.

The female pirate then turned her back to leave but was held up by Elizabeth saying, "I'm sorry for scaring you earlier, by the way."

Toni raised an eyebrow, as if offended. "Girl, you didn't scare me."

Elizabeth looked down. "Oh, but. . .I just - I heard this scream when I was trying to open. . .nevermind."

Toni shrugged and finally exited the room.

It was just the two of them now and she hated that the guy who was currently looking at her made her feel like prey near a predator. Other than that, her legs felt like they were about to give up and she was sure there was something weird happening to her. . .way down there.

With each step Jughead took forward she made one step back until he had her pinned against the wall. 

Elizabeth gulped. "What?"

"Why were you really in that crate?" He asked, squinting his eyes. His forearm was set above her head and his face was too close. She noted how amazingly blue his eyes were at that moment, but if she didn't do something, who knew what could've happened.

"I. . .I would be able to answer that if you would just, please, give me some personal space." She said, now looking at everything but him.

"Alright then." Jughead scooted his body away and she let go of the breath she didn't even know she was holding.

"Thank you."

"Now, your answer?"

Elizabeth didn't feel like telling the truth to a random stranger but it was as if she could tell this man everything. This feeling of safety and trust never appeared to anyone, not even to her beloved cousin who she has spilled everything to since they were practically just babies.

"I'm supposed to get married in 3 days." She explained, her face turning sour.

Jughead didn't like that statement. His eye twitched and he had this inkling sensation to hunt down whoever has asked for her hand.

"It was an arrangement between my parents and his." Elizabeth continued.

"Oh," The feeling disappeared. "Did you want it?"

"I. . .I did," The feeling reappeared. "I liked him a lot, and I thought the arrangement would at least get him to notice me but. . .when we talked to about why he had agreed, it just, kind of went downhill from there."

"What exactly did he say?" Jughead interrogated, wanting every detail of the narrative.

"He. . ." Elizabeth looked like she was about to cry. "He told me it was to make his father happy and that it would make him happy if we continued on the marriage but still get to see other people. Just not near our parents' knowledge."

"That's why you decided to bail?"

She didn't listen to him, or she hadn't heard him. "So, after that, I heard my father talking to our traders about how he was going to send 7 crates of black pearls to the Thornhill estate as a gift to our nana. I exchanged myself for the contents in one box and the next thing I knew, I was here."

"So, basically, you ran away from your soon-to-be dick of a husband?" Jughead concluded, folding his arms.

"I didn't want to be tied down to a boy who clearly doesn't have any feelings for me as I have for him. It's. . .not fair."

"Well," He said, running his hand through his dark locks and sighed. "That's an interesting story."

Elizabeth scoffed. "I bet it is."

"Did you ever think about making the following events better?"

"What?"

Jughead got closer to her again. "I mean, a beautiful woman escapes one hellish fate and ends up in a room beside a devilishly, handsome pirate after getting unknowingly kidnapped by said man. Simple, boring, but what's next?" He said.

She felt her heartbeat accelerate, thumping inside her chest nonstop. "Pirate?" 

"Yes, love," He replied. "I literally have a skull designed on my shirt, and you haven't even thought about why?"

"I thought you guys were just dressed weird, okay?" She panicked and pushed his face away when he got too close. "But I guess that would explain the vast amount of gold in the room. You're like a dragon."

"Hmm," He smiled and hummed, obviously flattered. "Still haven't answered my question though."

"What question?"

Jughead chuckled. "About what happens to the lady now? Because I'm highly interested in where this is going." 

"Well, you could throw me off the ship to get it over with," The blonde challenged. "Or you could just, kindly, I don't know, send me to my cousin where I wanted to be and should be at right now?"

"That's even more tedious and flatter than before, bubs."

"For you, maybe."

"I think I'm keeping you." The pirate gave a lopsided smirk.

Elizabeth's breath hitched at the sight. There was that knot in her abdomen again. "Stop that! You're making me feel weird! And what happened to 'unknowingly kidnapped'?! Shouldn't you be sending me on my way like a good guy or as an apology?"

"It's like you didn't just listen to a word I just said." Jughead laughed and sauntered over to his desk. His palms rested on the near edge as he leaned on it. "Again, I'm a pirate, not a 'good guy'. I steal and keep treasures for a living and where you're standing right now, is my treasure room. Plus, it's your fault for hiding in that crate."

"But - "

"Whatever is in this room, or this ship. Is. My. Treasure. The bond I share with my crew is my treasure. My money is my treasure," He wasn't about to let his point slip by again. "And since you've gotten here, you're my treasure. And no one touches my treasure. Ever. Especially if she can walk."

She looked at him incredulously, not believing it to be real. "What. . .? What exactly are planning here?"

"Making your story more interesting."

**Author's Note:**

> Feedbacks are appreciated. Hope you enjoyed the sail!!


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